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Curcumin: Long-Term Use?

Can we use curcumin all years long or we should stop every 12 weeks ? it said in the bottle to stop after 12 weeks but i dont know if its like omega that i can use all years long

Most of the info I’ve read says there haven’t been long term studies to determine if there might be any types of health risks. The only thing I’ve seen that suggested that it might potentially was regarding people with diabetes or other health issues.

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You should not need to cycle products like curcumin, or fish oil, given it has been consumed via food, albeit in smaller doses, by large sections of the population for many years. This would equally apply to other polyphenols like green tea.

I personally would be reluctant to cycle it now as I believe it has made a palpable difference regarding inflammation. As I have mentioned in other threads, although taking it consistently for some years now, it is only more recently that I started taking a dose on an empty stomach. Within 1-2 days, nagging injuries seemed to die down. Credit to Scott Stevenson for that one. He has reported a lot of similar anecdotal evidence among trainees who made the switch to consumption on an empty stomach.

oh really ! nice to know

im fasting and i was waiting my first meal to take my fish oil/curcumin

you suggest to take them on an empty stomatch ?

Absolutely, on its own. As I say, wouldn’t have opted for this myself given the data about biovailability but Dr Scott Stevenson flagged it up and after trying it I’m hooked.

wow nice to know ! thanks for the info man

I’ve been taking turmeric for years. Definitely helps my stomach issues and haven’t noticed any downside so far.

i read more about curcumin, and some study said that it lower testosterone, some study or info from this site say that it increase testosterone…

what’s your thought about it ?

That is not necessarily contradictory. It may cause acute reduction in testosterone but because of reduced inflammation still raise it in the long run. That is similar to Omega-3s low carb diets, and resistance training.

Also, many of the things that lower testosterone actually raise testosterone sensitivity and vice versa. Resistance training lowers testosterone acutely, but raises testosterone sensitivity while sexual intercourse raises testosterone but lowers testosterone sensitivity in the short term.

Carbs raise testosterone in the short term, but chronically high carb intakes cause chronic affects that lower testosterone. Fat loss from activity or caloric restriction will lower testosterone in the short term, but raise it in the long term.

The best you can do hormonally is minimize the negative (chronically high cortisol, adrenaline overexposure and insulin resistance) in the long run, and generally your body will either make more or need less of the hormones that people tend to be low on. IMO, the exception may be growth hormone, which is increased over a 24 hour period if you have fasting windows of 14-20 hours in the day. Growth hormone lowers cortisol which also lowers insulin, and lowering bodyfat will lower estrogen. Sleep and avoiding chronic overfeeding can raise GH. Better insulin sensitivity and lower cortisol raises GH too, which, in turn lowers cortisol and insulin.

If your bodyfat is well above optimal then the goal should be to make it optimal. The number one controllable thing is nutrition-since you can’t force yourself to sleep well, and you can’t exercise optimally if you are not sleeping, but you have 100% control of what you eat in theory.


Great answer ! Thanks

Your answers are always helpful, dude. Always learn something from them.

There are rodent studies showing both an increase in T as well as a drop (Ide H, et al). In the Ide H et al study, they concluded that curcumin can “directly and indirectly regulate the intracellular activity of androgen signaling”.

maybe i should stop using zinc while using curcumin ? i dont feel like i have lower T but i feel like im neutral.I have my morning wood and i sleep well and everything fine but in the day i dont have the : I need to fuck feeling, like im have most of the time.

but maybe thats just an adaptation like you said or to much aromatisation with zinc ?

Any recs on curcumin brands? I have some knee pain that I would love to throw some curcumin at.

At risk of sounding like a Biotest stooge, I use theirs. It is the only Biotest product I currently use. I do so mainly because, for some reason, it is competitively priced here in the UK while other stuff, e.g. Plasma, is out of reach, financially, for me. Of course, I also trust the brand formula so will pay a few pounds more.

You either eat on empty stomach or take it with a pinch of black pepper.

Not exactly. The supplement contains piperine, which is supposed to assist with uptake. So you get that regardless of when you take it.

Due to its poor bioavailability, consuming curcumin with food is thought to further increase absorption rates. This makes sense if you consider the correlation between long-term tumeric consumers, e.g. Indian people who use it extensively in cooking, and an apparent lower rate of cancer.

The premise of taking it on an empty stomach is more anecdotally based.

You noticed any side effects from it? I notice some people say that take it before bed to enhance sleep while other people take in AM for energy.

All I’m looking for is joint pain relief from decreased inflammation.

You notice any other effects?

I’ve taken it off and on for years (more on than off) and I’ve noted nil effects until I started taking it upon waking which, as I said, is dramatic reduction in aches and pains. I only use one 500mg cap then; if I could afford it I would probably take x2-3 then and a similar dose with dinner to cover all bases.

I’ve tried curcumin and not seen anything noticeable. Ashwaganda made a real difference for me though; I take it morning and night and it really helped with aches, pains and just feeling stiff and sore.